Media Pc best video?

[bagrubes]

Hello everyone this is my first post!! I am looking at creating a media Pc to replace VCR DVD Player And CD palyer in my home entertainment center with just one box. Form what I am being told their is no video card that can produce composit video as good as a DVD player?? Also I would like to recod from my Sat Dish. I do not have a HI DEF tv (soon) does anyone have any suggestion on which direction to go!!!

Thnks Bruce 8)

[John2001]

I use an ATI AIW 7500. When I had a lousy TV the AIW was fine but after I got a better TV I noticed that the AIW wasn't nearly as good as my S-VHS VCR and dedicated DVD player.

I can't speak to the quality of the digital output if you get something like an AIW 9700 and a really high end TV using digital input, but from the s-video out a DVD played from the AIW isn't nearly as good as from my dedicated DVD player through its component outputs. It's not bad but everything about the image is a bit worse, like color and sharpness. The diff is more than the diff due to s-video and component video.

The TV image from the AIW tuner is awful, even with a clean and strong signal. If you route the video from your satellite dish through s-video there's going to be noticeable degredation going through the AIW on its way to the TV (weeks ago I tried VCR -> AIW -> TV via s-video).

So if you're going to be picky about the video quality IMO your best options are to get dedicated video components as they get to the level of quality and price that you want (like a DVD recorder). However, if you can live with less quality then an AIW in a HTPC is a very workable solution for the here and now.